Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Idaho Insomniac

So I find myself unable to sleep once again. It’s too late to take anything for it if I want to be functional in the morning. Might as well write what’s going on in my head. I’m hoping to “move the files” as opposed to “copy the files” from my head to this computer. Perhaps if I change their location, they’ll no longer swirl around and keep me up?

Life doesn’t feel stressful. Not really. Not abnormally.

Potential causes:

Finances

Money is okay. We’ve set ourselves up for this very circumstance. I’m so glad we have made some of the decisions and strategic moves that we have! This is our 4th house. We’ve made money on the sale of each of the previous homes, and don’t owe much on this one. We were able to put the entire balance of our mortgage to a home equity line of credit, and our interest rate is very low, and we’re able to make interest only payments while our income has been reduced. We WERE on a 10 year plan to pay it off, but we’ll be fine if we have to bump that out a couple years.

ADHD

We are on the right track with C. His behavior and the related stress have improved greatly. I have the conference with his teacher tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I know what that will entail, and I’m not worried about it. Well, I was a bit antsy, because the principal had told my husband that she’d be attending. I don’t care for her much. Okay, I think she’s entirely void of capability and her ineptitude spans more facets than a single being could possibly count. Perhaps one day I’ll share that story. At any rate, I’m settled on that front as I spoke with the teacher and asked that the principal not be present.

Job Search

I had an interview today. For a job I didn’t really want. Though this is my second interview since I’ve been laid off. This is the second time I’ve been stricken with the call of the “old” profession. I interview, see a fantastic challenge… a way to use my current skills and to learn something new… and part of me wants it.

Perhaps that’s what’s troubling my mind? I DO want to go to school. I DO want to change industries. But I really did enjoy so much of my work previously. This other job paid peanuts. So it was a no-go. I was underpaid by 50% at the company. (yes, I have legitimate sources) There’s no way I could cut that in about half to work for this place. Even though it’s 10 minutes away.

School

I need to take that test. The GRE. It’s the final step. Then I’ll be accepted (assuming I score over 1000). Then the future will be a little less nebulous.

Conclusion

I think the feeling of missing process engineering coupled with the relative uncertainty of school is what’s bugging me tonight. My reasons for the career move are solid. The career path is robust. I guess I just have to navigate my way through the change. I love fixing processes, bringing functions up to some “standard.” I’ll be able to do this in healthcare. It will just feel different.

The Principal

So here’s the story. When C was in kindergarten, he found a condom on the bus. I guess he put it in his backpack and took it to the babysitter’s, who found him blowing on it. It was out of the wrapper and unrolled when he found it.

Of course, my very first action was to call the principal. This was not okay, and the district needed to know it happened so that it could be prevented from happening again. Though the chances were small, the risks were there… that it had been on a body, that bad behavior was going on on the bus, any number of things.

I shared these concerns with the principal. She agreed they were legitimate concerns and that it shouldn’t happen again. Her response?? “There’s nothing I can do to help you.”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

She essentially told me “that’s not my job.”

Granted, I do think she meant that she had no authority over the bus department. But I don’t care. My thought was (and is) that the principal is the face of the school district to the parents. The first line of contact. Even if there was absolutely nothing she could about the BUS aspect of this occurrence, she could have talked to people for me, brought this to the attention of somebody who could have helped me, given ME names and phone numbers… any number of things.

Instead she covered her ass. She was more concerned about liability than about my son’s health, or the potential for this to happen to another child.

Several (bounced) emails and phone messages to her boss (director of elementary ed) later, I decide to play the media card. Low and behold, someone decided to help me.

Interesting how her boss had a list of about 7 action items to help solve this problem and ensure it didn’t happen again. One of which was to have the school nurses in the entire district talk to the kindergarten AND first grade classes about picking things up off the floor or ground. Hmmmmm… the principal could have done this. She didn’t care to even think about it.

At any rate, this was my first interaction with the “leader” of my son’s school, and it’s never improved. There’s a bit more to the story, but this post has become a veritable epic, and I think I’ll try to sleep once again.

By the way… the pediatrician did recommend and I did take my kindergartener in to have blood drawn for an HIV test… due to the conditions provided by the school district. Confidence NOT instilled in this parent.

2 comments:

I remember when that happened with Cole's school. Crazy! I think Cole's principal may be the sister or clone of the principal to the school where my boys attended. She played a large factor in our initial decision to consider homeschooling.

Sad sad commentary. Ammie, I've wondered if I shouldn't see abuot fitting in homeschool with my school while I'm not working. We'll see how life looks after we've got the meds figured out.

I just filled out a survey on the school. :) Had to write a comment that the teachers excel despite the profound ineptitude of their leader. Color me a big, unforgiving meanie. I'll tell you, though... my boys' safety and well being is my very first concern over everything, and it should be hers, too. It should be instinctive; it cannot be "learned." The fact that C's safety wasn't on her list of priorities that day... well, I'll never be able to trust her. Ever.

Like "Keep Our Kindergarten" ... Idaho wants to dump K to save $$

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About Me

One woman's effort to further her education; raise whole, happy, well adjusted boys; contain ADHD, and advocate for her son; be a partner to her husband, AND get dinner on the table with a smile on her face.